Sinéad O'Connor – the Irish singer/songwriter who rocketed to international fame in the early 1990s – has died at the age of 56, RTE reports.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,“ O'Connor's family said in a statement shared with RTE. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.“
O'Connor is best remembered for her 1990 re-interpretation of the sweeping Prince ballad, Nothing Compares 2 U, which topped the charts in the US, UK, and a number of other countries.
The success of Nothing Compares 2 U fueled that of her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, which has sold over two million copies in the United States alone.
O'Connor's runaway success, however, was derailed by an infamous 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live.
After singing Bob Marley's War, a capella, O'Connor presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera, which she then tore to pieces, saying, “Fight the real enemy.“
Despite the controversy, the depth, candor, and rawness of O'Connor's songs – which fearlessly addressed political issues and the singer's struggles with her own mental health – have endured, and remained hugely influential to subsequent generations of singer-songwriters.
Born in Dublin in 1966, O'Connor endured a turbulent childhood, suffering abuse – she later revealed – at the hands of her mother.
She channeled the trauma of her upbringing into her self-produced 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, which marked O'Connor as a unique, emerging talent. Three years later came I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, and her ascent to superstardom.
Though her once-stratospheric commercial standing never truly recovered following the 1992 Saturday Night Live performance, O'Connor was – for the rest of her life – unbowed, politically, in the face of criticism, a boldness that also extended to her eclectic studio output.
Her 1992 LP, Am I Not Your Girl?, explored the world of jazz standards, while 2002's Sean-Nós Nua returned the singer to her traditional Irish roots. 2005's Throw Down Your Arms, meanwhile, saw O'Connor taking on classics from the reggae catalog.
O'Connor's final album was 2014's I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss.
“Really sorry to hear of the passing of Sinead O’Connor,“ Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said of the singer in a statement. “Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare.”
